Control device



CONTROL DEVICE Sydney Frankel, Tenafly, N.J., assignor to Web Controlsgorpioration, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Application November15, 1954, Serial No. 468,915

2 Claims. (Cl. ZOO-61.13)

This invention relates to a control device and more particularly itrelates to a device for guiding the edges of webs such as papers,textiles, sheet metal and plastic sheets, for example, and filamentssuch as cable wire, thread, etc.

In such operations as the slitting, embossing, dyeing, printing,coating, laminating, reeling, etc. of sheet material it is veryimportant to control the position of the edges of the sheet materialbeing treated. However, for such flexible sheet material this must bedone without injuring the edge of the sheet being treated.

Among the objects of this invention is to provide a simple controldevice suitable for guiding the edges of sheet materials withoutactually contacting the sheet material.

Among other objects of the invention is to provide a control deviceoperated by gas or air under low pressure which is readily available andwhich cannot harm the material being treated in any way.

Aside from operating as an edge guide for sheet material the device iscapable of controlling various other operations such as testing a sheetmaterial for defects and controlling other devices such as a typewriter,a jacquard weaving machine, a computer circuit, a musical instrument,for example, or any type of punched card controlled machine whenemployed with a sheet material having one or more predetermined sets ofperforations. Any device or operation that can be controlled byphotoelectric cells can be controlled by the device of this invention asthe operation is analogous. The photoelectric cell operates byinterception of a ray of light (or vice versa) and the device of theinvention operates by interception of a jet or air (or vice versa).

These objects of the invention and others ancillary thereto are obtainedby providing a plurality of air nozzles or jets spaced from acorresponding and coinciding number of sensing devices containing anorifice and a cavity. Internally, each cavity is fitted with a diaphragmwhich is flexible and responsive to the velocity head of an air jetentering the cavity from its corresponding nozzle. A separate diaphragmeffect may be obtained by a single diaphragm which is compartmentalized.Each diaphragm is adapted to operate a snap action switch or similardevice. A snap action type of microswitch is very satisfactory. Thesheet being aligned is passed through the space between the air nozzlesor jets and the air receiving cavities permitting or preventing thevelocity head of the air jet from acting on the diaphragm of the airreceiving sensing device. The switches may be connected to relays,solenoids, valves and similar actuating devices.

Gas at low pressure suitable for operating the device is, for example,at a pressure of 2-10 lbs. per square inch. Air is a very satisfactorygas but in some cases it may be desirable to employ a gas which is notinflammable and does not support combustion. Obviously gas at higherpressures can be employed but the low pressures of 2-10 lbs. p.s.i. aresatisfactory.

nited States Patent 2,884,495 Patented Apr. 28, 1959 ice When guidingthe edges of sheets, two, three, four or more nozzle of jet units eachcomprising a corresponding number of sensing devices are sufficient,greater accuracy and faster reaction being obtained with the largernumber of units. When employed for controlling the keys of a typewriter,for example, a separate jet unit is required for each symbol. Thenemployed for the discovery of pinholes in a non-porous sheet materialsulficient jet units to extend across the sheet are required. Wheredense sheets are made of explosive material such as cellulose nitrate orwhen made from solutions of plastic materials in volatile andinflammable solvents the device of the invention has the distinctadvantages over electrical control devices or sheet contacting devicesin that there is no danger from sparks. All the electrical switchingelements of applicants device are contained in hermetically sealedhousings.

The invention itself, together with additional advantages thereof, willbe best understood from the following description of a specificembodiment thereof when read in connection with the accompanying drawingin which:

Fig. 1 is a view of a typical installation of the device on a papertreating machine.

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view and a wiring diagram of a modified formof control device similar to that shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view of a perforated control sheet such as may be employedin jacquard weaving machine, typewriter control, etc.

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate an adjustment for increasing the sensitivity ofthe device of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 illustrates an easy way of making a series of diaphragms.

In the device of Fig. 1 the web or sheet 10 is being treated and isaligned by means of the edge guide 20. The edge guide 20 comprises anupper air supply chambered member 21 and a lower set of alignmentsensing devices in a chambered member 22. Obviously the positions of thechambers 21 and 22 can be reversed. The edge of web 10 passes betweenthe chamber 21 and 22. The air supply chamber 21 is fed by a lowpressure line 23. The air supplied to this line is preferably filteredso that no dust or dirt get into the air jets and nozzles on which theoperation of the device depends. The chambered members 21 and 22 areheld in the desired spaced relation to each other. In the form shown inFig. 1, the lower chamber 22 is rigidly connected at 25 to the lowerplate 24 of chamber 21. Plate 24 is rotatable with respect to the upperpart 27 of chamber 21 about the bolt 26 as an axis.

The structure of the alignment sensing device is shown in Fig. 2. Theupper or air supply chamber 21 has the air inlets 23 and includes aninner wall 30 containing a number of air jet or nozzle openings 31, 32,33 and 34. The nozzles 31, 32, 33 and 34 are positioned directly above asimilar series of orifices 41, 42, 43 and 44 contained in the inner wall40 of the chamber 22. Orifices 41, 42, 43 and 44 lead directly tocavities or chambers 45, 46, 47 and 48, respectively. The lower end ofeach cavity or chamber 45, 46, 47 or 48 is closed by a flexiblediaphragm 51, 52, 53, 54, respectively. A single diaphragm may extendover all the lower ends of cavity or chambers 41, 42, 43 and 44.Diaphragms 51, 52, 53 and 54 are adapted to expand under low pressure.

Fixed in the lower or outer part of cavity or chamber 22 are a number ofmicroswitches 61, 62, 63 and 64 one for each orifice 41, 42, 43 and 44.The switch 61, for example, comprises an electrical switch portion 66 ofconventional design and an actuating button 67. There are a number ofsuch switch devices on the market and the operation of the device doesnot depend on the particular internal structure of the microswitchemployed.

The switches 61, 62, 63 and 64 may be hermetically sealed in housing 22so that all danger of sparks resulting on connecting or disconnectingthe switches acting on explosive gases or bodies being manufactured, isavoided. Also, the sealing of the switches prevents moisture, dust,fumes, etc. from penetrating into the switch devices. Pressure on thediaphragm 51 is adapted to actuate the switch 61 by pushing button 67inwardly with respect to the body 66 of the switch. Electric supplylines 71, 72, 73, 74, etc. are connected or disconnected by the variousswitch boxes 61, 62, etc. to a relatively powerful adjusting means. Inthe case of Fig. 1 the switch boxes may control a device which moves theweb supply roll to the left or right.

A very satisfactory arrangement for the device of Fig. l is to employ adevice with four nozzle units comprising four air supply nozzles or jetsand four corresponding sensing devices. The edge of the web passesbetween the two center units. The switches 61 and 62 then, as shown inFig. 2, are adjusted to hold the lines 7fi'73 open when the buttons 67are not depressed by diaphragms 51 and 52. The switches 63 and 64 areadjusted to hold the lines '74, 75, 76, 77 open when the buttons 67thereof are in depressed position. Then if the edge of sheet 10 moves tothe left in Fig. 2, it will eventually cover nozzle 43 operating switch63 which connects to an actuating device to move the supply roll for web10 to the right rather slowly. If the edge suddenly gets to a positionWhere it covers nozzle 44, switch 64 causes the supply roll movingdevice to move faster to the right.

If on the other hand, the edge of web 16 goes too far to the right, thedepressing of diaphragm 52 closes switch 62 to operate a means to movethe web supply roll slowly to the left, etc. It is obvious that theswitch devices of the invention may be employed with any type ofservomotor adjusting means and the movement of the web supply roll hasbeen used as an illustration.

Figs. 4 and show how the device may be adjusted to increase thesensitivity. In the position shown in Fig. 4 the device has the leastsensitivity. To increase sensitivity it is only necessary to pivot theplate 24 and chambered member 22 about axis 26' as illustrated in Fig.5. The pivoting of the plate 24 and chambered member 22 brings thespacing between the holes closer together with respect to the edge ofthe sheet and thereby increases the sensitivity.

Fig. 3 shows a perforated roll 80 that may be employed with a device ofthe invention to operate various other devices. For example, if each oneof the openings 81 in sheet 80 controls a corresponding switch sealed inhousing 22' which switch in turn controls a corresponding key of anelectric typewriter, one prepared sheet 80 may be employed tomechanically reproduce as many original copies of the message on saidsheet as desired. Similarly the holes 81 may control the keys of aplayer piano or the shuttles of a weaving machine. In this figure theair supply nozzles are omitted.

A simple method of making a series of diaphragms for the unit is shownin Fig. 6. A single sheet 50 of flexible material provides thediaphragms. This sheet 50 is sandwiched between two metal members 55 and56. The metal members 55 and 56 contain a series of openings 52, 53, 54and 52" which form the diaphragms 52, 53 and 5 5. The sandwich is heldtogether in any way as by rivets 57.

The loss of power through air loss in the device is negligible. No dust,lint, oil or other impurities enter the system contrary to systems whichoperate by means of a vacuum. There need be no physical contact betweenthe web which is being guided or the web which acts as a control foranother means, although, if desired, and not otherwise harmful the webmay contact one or both of the air supply or alignment sensing arms.This is an especial advantage where the Web is, in tacky condition or iscoated with. a. soft or'tacky. material. The common tendency of webs tobounce or to sag under tension variations does not influence theaccuracy of the edge guide. Since there are no moving parts, no frictionand no wear, there is a minimum of maintenance required. The device isvery accurate. For example, an accuracy of i012" on webs with a wanderof /s for every of web length has been obtained with the speed of theweb being 750 ft. min.

The features and principles underlying the invention described above inconnection with specific exemplifications will suggest to those skilledin the art many other modifications thereof. It is accordingly desiredthat the appended claims shall not be limited to any specific feature ordetails thereof.

I claim:

1. A control device for a Web guiding means of a web feeding machineoperated by the position of the moving edge of said web being fed,comprising a pair of spaced, substantially parallel members, a first ofsaid members comprising a chamber having at least two spaced nozzleopenings extending toward the second of said members, means for feedinggas under relatively low pressure to the chamber of the first of saidmembers, the second of said members having at least two spaced cavitiesand correspondingly spced, gas-admitting orifices facing the respectivenozzle openings of said first member, the internal diameter of each ofsaid cavities being relatively large with respect to the diameter of itsorifice, diaphragm means mounted for. axial movement with each of thecavities of said second member, each of said diaphragms extending oversubstantially the entire area of the enlarged portion of said cavity andbeing anchored only at the edge portions of the cavity and diaphragmwhereby the pressure of the low pressure gas jet received by the orificeis amplified in said chamber, at least two snap action switch means insaid second member, one of said switch means being positioned on theopposite side of each diaphragm from the corresponding nozzle, each ofsaid switch means having a movable control button extending toward itscorresponding diaphragm whereby expansion of the diaphragm by thevelocity head of the gas entering the cavity operates the control buttonof said switch, said switch being adapted to connect an operating deviceto a source of electricity in one position of the control button and todisconnect said operating switch in the other position of the controlbutton, said first and second members being spaced apart sui'hciently topermit the moving web of a web feeding machine to pass between thenozzles of the first member and their respective cavities in the secondmember without contacting either of said spaced parallel members, meansfor mounting said control device on a web feeding machine so that theedge of the web fed by said machine normally moves in the space betweensaid two spaced nozzle openings in the first member and theircorresponding cavities in the second member whereby the jet of air froma first of said nozzle openings to its corresponding cavity is normallycut-oii by said moving web whereas the jet of air from the second ofsaid nozzle openings to its corresponding cavity is normally unhinderedby said moving web.

2. A control device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means formounting said control device on a web feeding machine includes apivoting connection whereby the sensitivity of the device to variationsin the movement of the edge of the web may be varied by changing theangle between the moving edge of the web and the line of nozzle openingsin the device.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS375,403 Waterhouse Dec. 27, 1887 1,073,792 Buechner et a1 Sept. 23, 19131,078,133 Dorricott Nov. 11, 1913 1,588,831 Yokoyama June 15, 1926

